1. Soil Science Written By Jim Melby Revised By Sam Behrends
Winneconne High School
Horticulture

2. The Basics Media-a substance in which you can grow plants
Can be soil or a soil substitute
Hold moisture
Supports the plant
Provides nutrients

3. The Basics Soil: Earthen-based media Sand Silt Clay Organic matter
Living organisms
Pore spaces (water and ‘air’)

4. The Basics
Soil is classified according to the % of sand, silt, and clay it contains
WI State Soil-Antigo Silt Loam

5. The Basics Particle Size: Sand is the largest Silt is in the middle
Clay is the smallest

6. Pictures

7. Soil Composition
Soils ‘vary’ greatly in general composition due to two main factors
Rocks breaking down over thousands of years
Materials that have been relocated by water

8. Organic Matter Top Soil Subsoil Bedrock
Soil Profile
Organic Matter
Top Soil
Subsoil
Bedrock

9. Organic Matter Organic Matter is the top layer of most soil profiles
Not always present
Typically living materials such as sod, weeds, or even moss

10. Top Soil Contains some organic matter
Typically the depth to which you would plow or till
Typically the ‘highest quality’ for growing

11. Subsoil Reached by the deep rooting plants
Roots will penetrate deep into subsoil due to the fact that some oxygen does exist
A mixture of bedrock and top soil

12. Bedrock Mostly solid material Hard clay and rocks
Little to no root penetration

13. Ideal Soil 50 percent solid material 50 percent pore space
Will be full of valuable minerals
Some OM will be present
50 percent pore space
Small holes fill with oxygen and water

14. Eight Physical Properties of Soil
1-Texture
How it feels….sandy, silty, or clayey
2-Structure
Granular, Platy, blocky, prismatic, columar

15. Eight Physical Properties of Soil
3-Soil Density
Measurement of the physical ‘looseness’ or ‘compaction’ of soil
4-Soil Consistency
How well soil sticks together or resists fragmentation

16. Eight Physical Properties of Soil
5-Pore Space
Open volume for air and water
6-Soil Color
Can be an estimate of moisture, organic matter (OM), salt, boundaries

17. Eight Physical Properties of Soil
7-Soil Temperature
Regulates germination and root growth
8-Water Content
Possibly the most important factor as it relates to all other properties of soil

18. Properties Influence…
Water Intake
Water Storage
Ease of Tilling or Plowing
Amount of Aeration
Amount of Fertilization

19. Chemical Properties
Chemical properties of soil are what the soil is made up of.
Certain chemical properties make soils better or worse for growing certain plants.